Chapter 171 171. Abandoned Building.
However, just when Vanessa was contemplating what to do next, her phone vibrated once again. But this time around, it was ringing.
The moment Vanessa looked at the screen, her eyes widened at the name displayed on the phone.
The caller was Sasha?!
Vanessa knew the timing couldn't be more suspicious, but she held on to the slight chance that it might actually be Sasha trying to reach out to her.
And so, she picked up the call.
"Hello," Vanessa answered, her voice full of the hope that it would be Sasha's voice on the other side of the phone so that she could find out exactly where Sasha was.
But rather than Sasha answering the call, it was the spine-chilling voice of a male that emerged from the other side of the phone.
"Hello, Vanessa."
There was no doubt in her mind that the raspy voice belonged to a man, which meant that he was definitely the one torturing Sasha in the video.
"How do you like my little present?" Kevin's fake raspy voice asked with a hint of mockery that only made Vanessa more furious.
She gritted her teeth as she tried to suppress the burning anger within her.
After all, she needed to know why he was doing this and what exactly he wanted.
But most importantly, she would love to have her sister back.
"Why are you doing this?" She finally asked.
"What did she ever do to you??"
"What do you want??"
"Money??"
"I'll give you whatever amount you need, just please, release my sister."
Vanessa pleaded, trying to make sure they reached a consensus, because she couldn't begin to fathom the amount of suffering Sasha must have been put through before now.
The thought that Sasha might continue going through all the things she went through in the video was frightening.
But it was even more harrowing to see it happening on her phone.
All she wanted was to get her sister back. That was all that mattered to her.
But as Vanessa pleaded for Sasha to be released, the masculine voice cackled maliciously to his heart's content before replying to her plea, and his words took her by surprise.
"Money??"
"Do you really think I'm doing all this for money??!" The voice laughed once again.
"Then why are you doing this?!!" She demanded in frustration.
"Because it is fun, I'm a gamer, and I love the suspense. And as a gamer, I love playing games."
"What?" Vanessa couldn't believe what she just heard. She wanted to make a retort about the ridiculous excuse the voice over the phone gave, but his next words sent chills crawling down her spine.
"Mind you, you're already partaking in the game and your sister has less than ten minutes left before she explodes into a million pieces."
"What?!!"
"Your little sister is currently tied up in an abandoned building with a ticking bomb strapped around her waist and she has less than nine minutes left before she explodes. To save her, all you have to do is simply pull the blue wire and then you can be with her again."
Vanessa's eyes widened in fear and her hand covered her mouth to stifle her anguished cry as her eyes welled up with tears. However, she knew that now was not the time to cry, so she summoned her courage and asked. "W-where can I find her?"
"You'll find her in xxxxxxx," Kevin gave her the address before adding at the end. "And do not even dream of calling the cops because if you do...."
But before Kevin could even utter the latter part of his sentence, Vanessa tossed the phone she was holding away and hurried out of the house, racing towards the address of the abandoned building that had originally been planned to be demolished in a week.
She didn't even bother informing Drake or anyone else because she knew that every second was very important to her if she wanted to save Sasha, so she had to get to the building on time.
Going all the way from Kevin's house to the abandoned building on foot would take the average human about thirty minutes, but Vanessa arrived at the building within five minutes.
Since she was an awakened, she possessed speed and strength that made her far more agile and stronger than the average human, and the ability to make it in time to the dilapidated building.
But now, was where the hard part came into play, Vanessa had no idea which floor exactly Sasha was tied up in.
Since she tossed her phone aside and ran all the way here right when Kevin was warning her not to inform the cops of what was happening, she had no idea what to do next.
However, Vanessa never had the intention of informing the cops in the first place because she had already connected the dots herself.
And she knew the caller would never play a twisted game of telling her to race all the way to the abandoned building to free Sasha without knowing that she was actually an awakened who could make it in time to the building.
But now, she had to find Sasha.
Vanessa searched throughout the first and second floors but couldn't find Sasha. However, when she got to the third floor, she finally found Sasha lying on the floor with a cloth tied around her mouth while her hands and feet were also tied with ropes to restrict her movement.
Vanessa hurried towards Sasha who was currently unconscious and looked very lean and malnourished, as though she hadn't eaten for months.
However, the timer for the bomb strapped to her waist showed that they had less than a minute remaining before it counted down to zero and exploded, so Vanessa quickly tried her best to disarm it.
With trembling hands, Vanessa tried to locate the blue wire on time before it would become too late to yank the wire off.
Besides, she didn't know if she could trust what the man on the phone said, but she had no time to think about which wire might or might not be the right one to cut.
For now, Vanessa was going to take this game seriously until she made sure that Sasha was safe, and once this had been confirmed, Vanessa vowed to give this so-called gamer, a piece of her mind.
"Found it!!" Vanessa exclaimed excitedly and quickly cut the blue wire, desperately hoping that she didn't make the wrong choice by choosing to believe the words of the one who started this horrible game.